


Who Needs Friends?

by wrpz



Category: VIXX
Genre: Explicit Language, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:42:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25923019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrpz/pseuds/wrpz
Summary: There's been some in-fighting in the group, and those not involved decide upon a fun way to solve it. Well ... fun for them, at least.
Relationships: Kim Wonshik | Ravi/Lee Hongbin
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> 2020 NOTES: I transferred my work from AFF to Wattpad to here (all under my previous username of 'cyjhope'), so this was originally written in December 2014. It's gone through absolutely zero editting or updating since then. Even my cringey original notes were written and untouched since then haha. Regardless, thank you for reading (and tolerating lol) my older works. ^ ^
> 
> ORIGINAL NOTES: Once again, my favourite @doyouwannabthelight (Tumblr) (AFF: areyoucuriousyeah) has decided to fuel my writing fire and send in a request! This time, with a prompt!! Anyway, this is goofy and weird and I don't know why my brain did this, but it was fun! Also, don't take the inclusion of their video show too seriously, I'd been addicted to old episodes and wanted to write in those interactions. I imagined this taking place in the more current stages of their existence, not so much early days, although I doubt it matters much.
> 
> Thank you in advance for reading and enjoy!! ♡(˃͈ દ ˂͈ ༶ )
> 
> Prompt: "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Everyone! Let's talk about the performance! What did you guys think?"

A few voices filled the minivan at the question prompt from VIXX's charismatic leader, Cha Hakyeon. In his hands, he held a modest camera, the lens and viewscreen currently aimed at his own face as he absentmindedly adjusted some strands of his hair. The band was in the middle of their daily ritual of recording some of their travel and home life antics. He realised his peers were beginning to respond, so he pointed the camera towards the seats in the back.

With enthusiasm, Han Sanghyuk, sitting in the middle rear seat, called out, "Hakyeon hyung, I want to go first!" He leaned forward and waved at the camera. "VIXX Diary!" he called out with a wink and a big smile. "I think tonight was great! The fans showed a lot of love and excitement and that always keeps us going up there! We saw the big group of international fans with their flags, thank you so much!"

Hakyeon cooed from behind the camera. "Yeah, those were really nice! Hongbin-ah, want to add anything?"

Lee Hongbin had been sitting to the right of Sanghyuk, who was now leaned back in his seat, making really quiet smalltalk with their other groupmate, Kim Wonshik, on the other side of him. At hearing his name, his eyes temporarily looked away from outside the window—where the light falling rain and bright streetlights zoomed by—and toward the camcorder. He did not, however, say anything. He immediately looked away and resumed watching the street, a neutral and unimpressed expression on his face.

At the moment of awkwardness, Hakyeon filled in the silence. "Yah, say something!"

The face of Lee Jaehwan, occupant of the seat directly in front of Hongbin, appeared in the camera's viewfinder, exclaiming in a mildly cutesy voice, "I liked that we got fed backstage afterwards!" He nodded enthusiastically, closing his eyes and pouting his lips as if remembering something wonderful. Sounds of agreement came forth from others in the car. "I don't know who made the grilled gopchang, but it was perfect and I want it again!"

"Oh, that was delicious," Hakyeon responded, quickly moving the camera lens back pointing towards himself. "We even got to have gamjatang, it had been a really long time for us! I don't want to eat healthy anymore!" He made a dramatic frowning face, then moved the camera so it faced Jung Taekwoon, who was lounging languidly in the seat in front of Wonshik. "Jung Leo, what was your favourite part?"

Taekwoon, moving just his eyes when he glanced at the camera, had a blank expression that was seemingly less awkward than Hongbin's. After staring for a moment, he quietly said, "The love from the fans."

"Ohhh!" some of the members vigorously shouted, smiling and laughing a bit at Taekwoon's kind-hearted response, just as they always did when he decided to actually speak up on camera. Nobody even blinked an eye when Taekwoon resumed looking at his phone without another word, though.

"Ravi~ Ravi!" Hakyeon's sing-song voice rang out after the shouts died down. "Your turn!"

Wonshik had been mumbling something to Sanghyuk at his right, wherein he quit mid-sentence to lean forward and flash a V sign at the camera. "Yo, VIXX Diary! We loved the passion from the fans, as usual!" he called, as if he was about to begin a list of announcements. "The gifts and the kind words and the energy, we can't get enough of it, so thank you! Please keep supporting us!" He winked and huskily said in English, "Let's go, yeah yeah!"

"Oh, let's go!" emcee Hakyeon repeated his English words, smiling. The camcorder pointed back at the silent resident in the rear of the vehicle. "Hongbin-ah! How come the cat's got your tongue? Say your favourite part of tonight!"

"No, thank you," Hongbin's quiet voice came from the hard-to-see corner, mumbled from behind the hand that was against his face, elbow leaned against part of the van's door. Again, he didn't move his face or head at all, but his eyes glanced toward the camera. "I don't have anything to say."

Stiffness in the air, Hakyeon didn't say anything for a long moment, letting the silence sit for a second. Nobody, in fact, said anything at all as the minivan rumbled along the busy street, but instead just exchanged hushed, curious glances amongst each other. "Hongbin must be feeling exhausted, I suppose," he said rigidly, pursing his lips and tossing a bit of a miffed demeanor in his groupmate's direction. "No worries, we saw him on stage, he was having a lot of fun!" Turning the lens back toward himself after a beat or two, he added, "Anyway, it was an amazing experience, as always, and we thank you for coming out to see us!" He glanced towards the rest of the crew and asked, "Anyone have anything else to add?"

"Let's get fed again next time!!" Jaehwan's mock-whining voice came from somewhere.

"Yes, yes," Hakyeon nodded solemnly, "I'm okay with that. Shall we bring today's video to close?"

After a round of agreement and the camera being pulled away from Hakyeon's body to show everyone in the car clearer, "V-I-double-X, VIXX!" was called out with various, "Goodbye!" and "Until next time!" statements being thrown in. Everyone—well, almost everyone—waved cheerfully and the camcorder was finally closed and put away.

A saturated moment of tension sat in the air of the car as the minivan took a turn to the right, everyone bouncing slightly with the movement of the car over any blemishes in the road. Their staff driver, feeling how palpable the rigidity amongst the members was, turned the radio on very quietly to fill in the silence. Finally, a low voice from the rear corner of the car spoke up.

"What the _hell_ was that?!" Wonshik exclaimed. The others present, aside from driver and Taekwoon, all turned to look at him— _his_ expression, on the other hand, was firmly set on Hongbin in the opposite corner. Sanghyuk in the middle pressed himself motionlessly against the back of the seat in an effort to not be caught in between them as an obvious exchange was about to begin. "What's crawled up your ass and died?"

Hongbin, having been alerted from his scenery-staring by Wonshik's outburst, evenly stared back at him, no registration over being snipped at on his face. "What are you talking about?"

Scoffing incredulously, Wonshik shook his head in disbelief and blinked at him. "What am I talking about? 'I don't have anything to say'—that was cold _and_ rude! What are you going to do when that video broadcasts?"

"Nothing," his bandmate replied, turning his face back towards the window in an effort to brush off the conversation. "PD-nim will be able to edit it before it airs."

"That's not really the point ...," Sanghyuk quietly added helpfully, trailing off. He didn't really want to get in the middle of the altercation, but he wasn't thrilled with how Hongbin had responded to the brief recording, either.

"Yeah, the viewers are going to be able to tell something's up when that goes out, editted or not," Wonshik continued, pointedly staring at the side of Hongbin's face. "There will be plenty of shots of you sulking in the background. We're not expecting you to vomit rainbows, man, but you could have at least put in some kinda effort." He looked up toward Hakyeon for some kind of aid, who was peering over his shoulder steadily at the bickering men. "We've let the bad attitudes on camera slide in the past, but I don't want us to have to hear it from manager hyung _again_. Quit that shit."

"Bad attitude?" Hongbin suddenly questioned, turning his entire body for once as he glared back at Wonshik. "I didn't attack anybody, I just didn't feel like being filmed. Or talking." He looked at Hakyeon, to whom his previously annoyed expression softened. "Please just have them edit me out, I'll talk to manager hyung if he says anything." Glimpsing back at Wonshik before continuing, "But get off my case tonight, I'm not in the mood to deal with it." With that, he resumed staring out the glass with his chin in his hand.

"Okay," Hakyeon chimed in, donning his gentle but stern leader tone, cutting Wonshik off from what was going to be a raised voice. He lifted one hand palm-forward to invoke quietness. "Hongbin, please at least contribute a bit of a smile next time, we do this for the viewers and they expect a certain something from each of us, as, uh, according to our image." At the last part of the sentence, he looked over for a second at Taekwoon, who was seemingly ignoring the entire conversation—although Hakyeon knew him well enough to be aware he was hearing every word. "Your fans in particular are going to notice you're off and we can't have that. Wonshik," he started, turning to look at the other, who was now leaned back into his own corner with a steely expression on his face, "let's not worry about it for now, we'll have another talk about video behaviour at our next meeting."

"There's been a lot of these kinds of things lately," Wonshik replied in a low intonation, not bothering to really look at anyone this time. "When I say 'bad attitude', I'm not just talking about now, but he's been constantl—"

"Okay!" Hakyeon interrupted, a little more strength behind his voice. "We'll talk about it later. It's been a long day, we're all stressed from the tech and mic problems we were having at tonight's show, now's not the time." He shot a quick sympathetic furrowing of his brows to Wonshik, attempting to communicate that he understood why this was a bit of a sensitive issue.

He had been correct: Hongbin had been a bit of a ticking time bomb lately. Most of the time, he was his pleasant, warm happy self, but there had been a few awkward instances—quite similar to the one that had just happened—where his mood just plummetted and the cold aura couldn't be cracked. He was usually still at least polite about it, but tonight he seemed particularly frigid. At the same time, though, every single time that Hongbin's condition seemed to sour, Wonshik was right there, metaphorically nipping at his ankles about it and confronting him. Which was strange in itself. Despite not usually being a man afraid to say what was on his mind, Wonshik did also not possess a necessarily combative personality. He approached many topics with sensitivity and compassion—why he was being notably hard on Hongbin was anyone's guess. Sensing there was something going on at a deeper level, Hakyeon had decided the car full of people was not the place to have this kind of conversation.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Finally having arrived and hoofed their way up to their dorm, the entire band seemed weary all the way to their bones. The six of them plus two staff ended their professional evening with a quick meeting about the performance, politely wishing everyone a good night and a restful sleep. With the pleasantries out the way, the bandmates began their nightly end routines.

With the events of the car ride still fresh in his mind, Hakyeon made a point of standing at the edge of the kitchen, knowing he would pass almost every member at some point in time. Nodding silently toward Jaehwan, Taekwoon, and Sanghyuk to indicate it wasn't them that he was waiting up for, he steadied his expression to one of even patience. When the two he was waiting upon emerged from their respective locations, he made a motion asking for them to briefly join him there in the brightly-lit room.

"I just want to say something before we go to sleep," Hakyeon offered quietly after Wonshik and Hongbin shuffled over sluggishly. Neither man responded, but instead kept their eyes studiously anywhere except anyone's faces. With a small sigh, he continued, "I don't need any kind of reply, I just want you guys to stew on this tonight: things have been kind of tense between you two, and I don't know why, but we really need to sort this out and soon. As far as I can tell, it hasn't affected your onstage lives, but if it keeps up, it will, so let's get our shit straight." He glanced kindly between the two of them. "Someone somewhere is going through a tough time, and we're all here for you, so let's talk or at least have a fight or something, just no more of this extra strain, okay?"

Hongbin was the first to react, politely bowing his head just slightly and then nodding. "I'm sorry, leader hyung," he said, his soft expression a much different one than to what he had on in the car. Speaking a bit stiffly and professionally, perhaps with a mite bit of embarrassment, he added, "I haven't been feeling myself lately. I will make a point of improving and trying to better myself."

Wonshik merely nodded, acknowledging Hakyeon's short speech. His eyes stayed trained on Hongbin, though.

"Thank you both," their leader said with a worn, tired smile. "Now get some sleep, we have practice early tomorrow since the studio wasn't available tonight."

As the energy in the apartment wound down, a couple of calls of "Goodnight!" came from the main bedroom. Hakyeon, though, having delayed getting ready for sleep to speak with his bandmates, made his way to the restroom to begin washing up.

Before he even got the chance to grab a towel from underneath the sink, Jaehwan poked his head into the open doorway. "Hakyeon hyung," he stage whispered, dramatically raising his hand up next to his mouth as if he was desperately trying to get the other's attention—from all of two feet away. "Yaahhh. I have a really good idea and you should listen to it."

Hakyeon stood there for a moment, weighing his options. He put on his best mildly annoyed face, despite really being too tired to feel it. "Can it possibly wait until tomorrow?"

"Absolutely not," Jaehwan insisted, widening his eyes for effect. "I'm a genius and I won't sleep until I release this fantastic plan out of my head."

Rolling his head back to stare at the ceiling and sigh, Hakyeon agreed to listen and motioned to lead the way back into the kitchen. An idea from the ever-persistent Jaehwan would either be really brilliant or really evil, there was no in-between, and was most likely to be both. He was a little bit concerned as to what he was getting himself involved in now.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = =

"I think you're just a little bit Satan."

Jaehwan shrugged lightly at Sanghyuk's giggly comment, nodding in seeming agreement. "Maybe a little bit, but you have to admit I'm the only one who's been able to come up with _some_ kind of plan. They've been pretty bad lately." He sat with his legs crossed at the end of the muddy brown couch in their dormitory, not staring into Sanghyuk's face when he responded, but instead the lens of the ever-present camera. He leaned in a bit closer, an easy move since the younger boy was sitting on the floor in front of him, one elbow leaned up on the coffee table for support. "Let me see the screen."

Sanghyuk flipped the viewscreen so Jaehwan could make sure his face was just as cute as always. He kind of scrunched his nose in response, but didn't protest at what he saw. Sanghyuk, on the other hand, decided he didn't want to film that particular bandmate anymore, so he turned the recorder toward Hakyeon, who was sitting at the other end of the couch, mouth set in a very straight line. "N hyung, how do you feel about all this?"

Hakyeon shrugged with one shoulder, his eyes showing a bit more mirth than his expression was. "I was originally against playing games, especially since something's emotionally going on with one or both of them, but—frankly—they're both too stubborn to let it all out in the open without some prompting, so I say let's make the best of it." He met the gaze of the camera and smiled a touch. "They've both been in good spirits today, so I'm hoping this ends with more amusement and less punching."

The three of them had just finished discussing their plan for the open evening. Taekwoon wanted not a single part of their scheme, so he had left them with a, "If a door gets kicked apart, I'm not cleaning it up," and vacated the living room to to go to the office with his music. Sanghyuk had been contentedly filming the meeting and idea explanation, knowing full well that if it _did_ end in blows or even a loud argument, there was no way they could air it. Instead, he mused it could be good for their own records, in the end. Something to look back on and either cringe at or laugh about.

The air in the apartment as they awaited the arrival of their final two bandmates was a little heavy as no one was entirely sure if this was a really great prank or a really cruel thing to do to their friends. They were, regardless, all on board, knowing full well this could be a quick road to Hell in the end.

Just as Hakyeon was beginning to second guess, torn between the responsible path as leader and the fun he liked to have with his brothers, Wonshik returned from the nearby convenience store. Black beanie covering his hair and sunglasses still over his eyes, despite having been in an enclosed private elevator the entire way up, he entered with a polite greeting and a raise of his hand, displaying the bag carrying his goods. "You all will be pleased to know we are no longer out of protein powder, there are more peas in this place than we'll know what to do with, and we now have plenty of cheese—sorry, Hyukie."

Sanghyuk wrinkled his nose and made a mimicking choking sound, swiveling the camera towards the dorm's entrance.

"Oh, did I almost miss a Diary?" Wonshik questioned with a charming grin, removing his shoes and sunglasses and making his way toward the kitchen. He threw up a passing V as he walked past with the groceries.

The three of them looked at each other and nodded silently, Sanghyuk standing up with the camera still pointed toward the kitchen. He spoke up, pulling the viewscreen back toward him and watching Wonshik's form in the video, "We were thinking of what to do tonight, maybe you have some input." He made his way to where his hyung was unloading the armful of foodstuffs into their rightful spots.

As Wonshik started to reply, never able to resist a good camera scene, Hakyeon scooted closer to Jaehwan on the couch. In a whisper they themselves could barely hear, he asked, "Have you heard from Hongbinie at all? He should have come back first, the track isn't that far away."

Jaehwan plucked his phone from up off the coffee table and glanced at it, brows furrowed at the lack of message. "He'd be pretty much on his way back now if he started his run right when he got there. I told him we may have a group meeting soon, so he shouldn't get too distracted." His eyes quickly glimpsed towards the kitchen to make sure Sanghyuk and Wonshik were still engaged in their Diary entry. "I say we execute plan 'Oh My God Are We Going to Get Hit?' right now."

Hakyeon made a bit of a face, but started to grin nonetheless. "We _are_ going to get hit," he stated matter-of-factly, and shook his head a little to put on a more serious face. He looked across the room toward the armchair that usually sat near the couch, but was now suspiciously placed near the door of the bedroom. Attempting to pay it no mind and hope that a certain Kim Ravi never noticed it either, he stood up and cleared his throat.

Having grabbed the attention of both Sanghyuk and Wonshik, Hakyeon put on his best leadership face. "Wonshik-ah, got a moment?" he announced, keeping his voice steady. Inside, though, he was a giggling maniac.

The humour from his conversation with Sanghyuk draining from his face a bit, and recognising the patient look of Hakyeon's, Wonshik nodded solemnly. "Yeah, of course."

Swallowing back his desire to burst into laughter, Hakyeon motioned toward the bedroom. "I just need a second." As they walked closer to one another, making their way to the other room, he added, "I just want to be away from the camera, but didn't want to make Hyukie put it down; he's been attached to it all evening." He gave the other a small smile to relieve the tension in his expression.

"Yeah, no worries," Wonshik replied quietly after they entered, pulling the bedroom door behind himself so it sat ajar. "So, what's up? Everything okay?" He adjusted the beanie on his head, and glanced around the room, obviously concerned at the sudden need for a private meeting.

"Oh yeah, for sure." Hakyeon's eyes travelled to the door for a second, hoping beyond hope that Jaehwan's half of the plan was going to come together quickly—he didn't have a lot prepared at the moment. "I mostly wanted to make sure everything was good between us after I had that chat with you and Hongbin last night."

Wonshik's eyebrows raised a bit in surprise, then lowered as he thought back to the previous evening's discussions after they'd returned from the show. "Definitely good," he responded after a moment, leaning his back against the blank wall adjacent to the doorway and crossing his arms. "I understood, loud and clear. Sorry if I had been pushing the issue a bit lately."

Hakyeon felt a moment of guilt as he heard the sincerity in his bandmate's words. He was aware he was using the other's earnestness as fuel for their trick, and he had a moment of reconsideration. As he started to acknowledge, though, he heard the door of the apartment close, indicating Hongbin's return from his cardio run. The rest was in Jaehwan's hands. Attempting to ignore the chatty voices in the living room, he nodded with, "No, you're fine, you're honestly both fine, I was just kind of concerned it all went deeper than surface-level. Everyone seemed in strong spirits today, though, so I've decided not to worry about it." He added in a smile to try to lighten the mood and said, "I think today's practice was some of our best, anyway."

Wonshik grinned, his eyes glancing upward as he thought back to their time at the studio earlier that day. "Yeah, we were killin' it. I think the next time we do th—"

His concern was cut off by the creak of the bedroom door opening and Jaehwan stepping through. "He's right here, Bin," the newcomer was saying, staring pointedly at Hakyeon and stopping just before the threshold with the edge of the door still in his hands. "And, oh, he said it was kind of urgent, just so you know." Going a little wide-eyed with momentary panic, he scuddled back out into the living room to make room for Hongbin's entrance.

"Oh—ah!" Hakyeon exclaimed, not prepared for whatever the next step was. He looked back toward Wonshik, who just stood with a blank, mildly confused expression, then faced Hongbin, who was now looking about the room with curiosity, and added, "Yeah, I was, uh—I have to talk to the both of you, actually, yeah, but I need to grab someth—I left a note I wrote myself in the other room—so, just give me a quick second, I'll be right back."

"Wait, I jus—" Hongbin started, his eyes looking between the two men with complete confusion.

"One second!" their leader repeated, inching past and ducking his way out the door. "Give me just one second!"

Wonshik spoke next. "What just—where are you going?"

Upon his quick and messy exit, Hakyeon spotted Jaehwan standing with his hands on the side of the armchair. "Oh my _god_ ," he blurted, sloppily reaching back and grabbing the doorknob behind him, pushing the bedroom door shut with a slam. "We are really, really going to get hit for this!" At that, he immediately rushed forward and grabbed the other side of the armchair, aiding his groupmate in sliding the heavy piece of furniture in front of said door.

Jaehwan barked out a laugh as it settled into place, checking beneath it to make sure they didn't scrape up the ground of the apartment at all. "Mission: success!" he declared loudly in English, grinning like he'd just won the world's most exciting contest.

"Yes, for now," Hakyeon breathed, smiling at their victory. They high-fived over the chair and stepped away from the room altogether. "We better not go to sleep in the next few days, though, one of them is going to absolutely destroy us."

Sanghyuk, somehow quiet as a mouse nearly the entire time, stood near the sofa with the camera pointed directly on the bedroom's door. He, too, had a face-splitting grin of an expression, and was humming his little tune with dramatic flair. He stopped and stage whispered, "Wonshik hyung is going to be out for blood."

"I think I'm more afraid of Hongbinie, he's too nice to not have some wrath hidden deep down inside," Jaehwan mused, putting a hand up to his mouth. He turned back to Hakyeon, who was facing the scene of the crime still. "Do you hear anything? Have they said anything?"

As if summoned, a low growl came from the other side of the door as the doorknob rattled but moved unsuccessfully. Loud knocks rang out through the dormintory. "What's going on?!" the voice of Wonshik emerged loudly. "What is—what the hell just happened?!"

Stifling a giggle, Sanghyuk spoke to the camera without turning it toward himself, "This is where it's either going to get really good or really bad."

Hakyeon grinned back at Sanghyuk and the camcorder, then faced the door and the two protesting voices coming forth. "Hey! HEY!" he shouted over the forming ruckus, trying not to let a laughing fit bubble to the surface. "Look, HEY! Look, you guys have been really weird for the past few weeks and it's getting _really_ annoying!" The outcries died down just a bit as he continued, "As far as I'm concerned, we're doing this for your own good! Plus ... it wasn't my idea!" He flicked an apologetic 'I just threw you under the bus' face at Jaehwan. "You are absolutely _not_ allowed to come out of there until you've either—I don't know—made up or made out, I don't care! Either way, let it out of your systems and _get over it!!_ "

The quiet that took over the apartment was a little disconcerting, and the three remaining in the living room exchanged mildly concerned glances when no response came from behind the door. Sanghyuk started to say something when he was interrupted by Taekwoon's quiet voice coming from the office hallway:

"I'm going to take bets as to which one of you gets killed first."


	2. Chapter 2

Wonshik tried pounding with his fist on the door to the bedroom a few more times, and unsuccessfully tried the doorknob again. "It's moving, but the door won't actually budge!" he exclaimed in surprise, pressing his right ear up against the wood in an attempt to hear the groupmates out in the living room. "Are you guys _seriously_ doing this?!"

Hongbin, on the other hand, stood quietly a few feet away with a completely incredulous look on his face. He had a towel draped across his shoulder, a remnant from the exercising he'd been attending to that evening, and his hair was wet and unstyled from a previous shower. Slow realisation seemed to finally come across his expression, and he calmly said, "What's going on? I ... I just got home and I'm completely lost."

"I don't really know, but I'm pretty damn determined to find out." Wonshik continued his pattern of rattling the doorknob and taking a fist to the structure.

Hongbin chimed in with some noise of his own, leaning close to the very small space between the door and its frame in an attempt to make his voice heard. "Hyung, what just happened?!"

"Don't make me bust down—" Wonshik's threat was cut off by Hakyeon's voice from the other side.

"Hey! HEY! ... Look, HEY! Look, you guys have been really weird for the past few weeks and it's getting _really_ annoying! As far as I'm concerned, we're doing this for your own good! Plus ... it wasn't my idea! You are absolutely _not_ allowed to come out of there until you've either—I don't know—made up or made out, I don't care! Either way, let it out of your systems and _get over it!!_ "

A few seconds of silence passed, both of the trapped men staring at the door in complete slack-jawed disbelief.

Finally, Hongbin offered, "Did he just say what I think he just said?" while turning to actually look at Wonshik. He attempted to keep his expression steady and neutral, but, inside, his stomach was flip-flopping. This and the moments following could potentially be chock full of awkward and the fact that he'd _just_ gotten back to the apartment left him mentally unprepared.

Wonshik pulled his ear away from the wooden door and stared back evenly at Hongbin. The tension in the air—from both the panicky nature the bandmates had acted in and the slow realisation of the situation the two of them found themselves in—was thick, and Wonshik had to swallow back an annoyed comment. He reminded himself this wasn't entirely Hongbin's fault. "Yeah, yeah he did." He nearly put his mouth on the door and yelled out, "This is bullshit and you all know it! Nobody here is down with playing your games!"

Absolutely nothing came back as a reply.

"Arrghh!" Wonshik expressed, holding back from kicking the door. He wasn't a violent person by any means, but his usually-at-bay temper was rising. He didn't appreciate being put in such an uncomfortable scenario, but was mostly annoyed because he knew exactly why the others had done it: both he and Hongbin had been acting a bit out-of-character lately and they knew this was one of the only ways the two of them would talk it out sooner than later. He knew Hakyeon well enough to know that not only was he correct in this assumption, but that he'd even end up _thanking_ his leader at a later date. At the thought, he inwardly sighed.

Hongbin finally walked away from the doorway, and made his way to the corner where his futon was rolled up. He nudged it closer to the wall and out of the way with his foot, and decided to sit down on the ground cross-legged, lean back, rest his head up against the wall, and close his eyes. He looked overall peaceful, but the tight line that his mouth was forming indicated otherwise. "We almost may as well just give in. Not a single person—much less some kind of bull—competes with Hakyeon's level of perseverance."

Still holding most of his body pretty much up against the door, Wonshik turned back to flash an unconvinced look at Hongbin from over his shoulder. "You want to go along with this craziness? I mean, we've been on the end of some great pranks, but this is a little out of line even for them, don't you think?"

Seemingly unphased, his eyes still lightly closed, Hongbin shrugged. "What else do you want to do? Crash through the wall?"

"That's ridiculous," Wonshik snapped under his breath, shooting a glare back at the door. He knew he was basically defeated, though, for Hongbin was right—what else was there to do, short of knocking the door off its hinges? And while it was an odd predicament they found themselves in, that was obviously overkill. He audibly sighed and finally took a step back. "Whatever. They'll get bored and let us out soon enough. We don't have enough time in our schedules for them to keep this up long." He trudged over to the corner opposite of Hongbin's and mimicked his seating, leaning his back up against the wall but keeping his legs spread and knees bent, looking like the tough kid sitting in the back of the classroom. He rested his elbows on his knees and let his hands hang midair. "I still say this is bullshit, though."

Opening his eyes slowly, Hongbin continued to keep his expression disinterested as he glanced towards the other. There was a thin veil of challenge in his voice when he then asked, "Are you talking about me or all of this?" He gestured with his hand in a circle with a low amount of effort.

"I'm talking about Hakyeon hyung and ... and Jaehwan and whoever else is involved." Wonshik narrowed his eyes at the mild defiance in his bandmate's tone, but managed a small smirk and a quiet scoff. "I think even this trumps whatever's been up with you lately."

A flicker of registration came over Hongbin's once-neutral demeanor, but his near-indifference returned as quickly as it had disappeared. "I'm not the one so offended over their little gag, though. So, no, my 'whatever' holds strong, sorry." He swallowed back his snippiness, realising just how powerfully his bad mood lately was taking over his day-to-day interactions. He kept this up, he internally warned himself, and Wonshik will have been absolutely right to pry at him. He took in a deep breath, wondering lightly if this interaction was the whole point of his groupmate's antics.

Not wanting to press the topic, Wonshik remained quiet in response, and they both remained that way for a few very conspicuously awkward minutes. He pulled his phone out from his pocket and idly thumbed through apps, his eyes occupied by the screen but his mind occupied by the uncomfortable silence sitting in the room between them. His open annoyance stemmed mostly from Hakyeon being a jerk and usually having a good reason for doing so. He was also very aware that his and Hongbin's relationship had been strained lately, which was very odd for the two of them—they were usually very close, and had been since their MyDOL days.

At that moment, Hongbin had been thinking something very similar. The uneasy conversation between them was uncharacteristic, and he knew that. The only real difference was that he was fairly aware of the reason why, and knew the ball was basically in his court. At that reflection, though, he felt his deep-seeded shyness bubble up the surface and he couldn't bring himself to speak up just yet.

"Hey."

Hongbin wasn't sure he'd heard him at first, but he looked up from the floor and over at Wonshik at the hushed prompt. "Yeah?"

"Your attitude just _sucks_ lately, man," Wonshik said pragmatically, not having yet looked up from his phone. He seemed to be obviously just scrolling mindlessly, though. "Can we just ... get something out in the open? What's been going on with you? What was with your level of weird in the car? You were so hyped during the show but so childish afterward."

Hongbin had been slowly preparing himself to say something through the substantial silence that had taken over the room, but he swallowed the sudden acid he felt in his throat at Wonshik's spoken lack of tact. His mouth resumed the taught scowl he'd had previously. "My attitude? Childish?" he questioned, taking effort to keep the scorn out of his voice. "Look. If you would have just let me stew for a bit, I would have been fine. I don't always need you prying."

"You do need it, though, because you _really_ gotta start controlling that."

Hongbin sighed, clearing his throat from the effort of keeping his tone polite and even. "I am ... trying to control it. By stewing. That's exactly the point of stewing in the first place." He waved gingerly in the other's direction across the room. "What do you do when you're upset?"

Realising they were beginning to do exactly what Hakyeon had intended with all this crap, Wonshik bit back an audible swear. He shrugged instead, shifting his position on the hard ground uncomfortably. "I don't know. Eat? Masturbate? Go for a run? Record a track?"

"I mean in public," Hongbin sighed in reply. "You know I couldn't do any of that in the car."

Wonshik was the one to sigh in return. "Yeah, I know, I just—" he cut himself off, trying to compose an answer without giving up on his lecture. "We have a responsibility to the fans, though, and that's part of the point of VIXX Diary. We can't let them down, this is our chance to really show them what we're made of."

"I feel like our fans would be more annoyed knowing I was putting on a big fake smile for them, though," Hongbin pointedly stated. "They want to see the real us, deep down inside, don't they?"

"Maybe," Wonshik relented, "but I'm _pretty_ certain manager hyung wouldn't agree."

"Then who's this really about? Our superiors or the fans?"

"Both. They don't need to deal with our inner demons, and that satisfies everybody in the end."

Hongbin shook his head, closing his eyes and considering for a moment. He leaned the back of his crown against the wall and took in another steady breath. Opening his eyes after a few seconds passed, he repeated his earlier position with, "Just edit my parts out, then. I don't mind, I'm not going to be offended. Taekwoon sleeps through these things all the time, should have just let me stay that way—no one would question me being tired after a show."

"You weren't sleeping, though," Wonshik responded with a humourless laugh. "You were being pissy when asked questions!"

"Look," came Hongbin's cold, abrupt answer, "I just really, _really_ wasn't up for questions, okay?"

The strained tone in his friend's reply triggered something in Wonshik's thought process. It was beginning to dawn on him, somewhere in the back of his mind, that this definitely had to be more than just his bandmate being in a consistently bad mood; something was really, earnestly eating at him. He felt a sting of raw taste in his throat as he realised he might have been being a touch insensitive. His strong lack of desire to back down persisted, but he did manage to soften the edge in his voice. "Come on, man," he said gently. "What's wrong, anyway? We're stuck here, Hakyeon hyung wants us to have this out, and I may as well know. What's _up_?"

"It's nothing."

Hongbin's short reply made a muscle in Wonshik's eye twitch. He was trying to keep it kind and amicable, but the inflexibility going on in the conversation was beginning to get to him. "Oh, for fuck's sake," he grumbled, nimbly slapping his palm to his forehead with annoyance. He brought his hand away and resumed his tough guy act. "Are you going through mood swings or something? Do I need to take you to a doctor for a sudden second bout of puberty?!"

At the snap, Hongbin's voice went dangerously icy. "No. It's just none of your business."

"Yo!" Wonshik exclaimed, furrowing his eyebrows and staring intensely at the other. "You're my family! In this group, everything we do is each other's business, and we're _healthy_ because of that. Save the foolish brooding for rookie groups."

The arctic biting stayed in Hongbin's tone. "I'm allowed my secrets."

"Not when they're affecting the rest of us like this."

"Then how about you don't let it affect you?" There was a slight rise in Hongbin's inflection.

Wonshik's exasperation finally detonated, and he jumped up to his feet with a growl and gesticulated energetically at Hongbin. "Would you quit being a jackass and just fucking _tell_ me already?! This is ridiculous!"

"Fucking _fine_ ," Hongbin snapped in a hiss between clenched teeth. "But _don't_ regret that you asked."

Wonshik's face suddenly changed into an expression of surprise at his groupmate's swear, something that was fairly rare (at least compared to him and Hakyeon). He was feeling torn between gratefulness that he'd finally struck a nerve and gotten a reaction, and nervousness that he'd hit _too_ hard. He stayed silent, not sure what to say yet.

"It's ... it's _you_ , you asshole." Hongbin had started the sentence strong but his voice caught for a moment as he swore a second time. He took an unsteady breath in and continued, squarely staring Wonshik in the face but not without a bit of wavering confidence. "It's you. It's the way you ... that you conduct yourself, it's the way—that you _talk_. That ... that you talk to _me_." His eyes flickered to the floor, unable to keep his gaze steady anymore. "The way that you look at me. I'm really, really tired of you thinking that I'm ... that I'm only good at being a visual, just being here as a handsome face. I need more than that out of you." Colour started to creep into his cheeks, and he kept his narrowed eyes focused anywhere but on his bandmate.

A very thick silence settled like a lead blanket as Wonshik stared wide-eyed, almost unable to register what he just heard. He was expecting a slew of things ranging from that Hongbin had had a fight with some secret girlfriend to that his childhood pet back home died, but this was completely off his radar. He was so shocked he'd momentarily forgotten how to breathe. As he began to actually hear the words that had been aimed at him, he shook his head like water plugged his ears. "Wait," he vocalised, swallowing the dryness that had appeared in his mouth. "What in the _world_ are you talking about?" He paced towards another corner of the room, still staying across the distance from the other. His eyes wandered the rolled-up futons along the walls. "I've never said anything like that, I don't even think anything like that! You're—how—how could you think that I—you're my brother! You're one of my best friends! I know we've been kind of at each other's throats lately, but I never thought of you as anything less!"

Recovering from a kind of shock that he'd said anything at all, Hongbin's knees pulled up toward his chest and he rested his crossed arms on top of them. He groaned quietly, realising he had to keep going and that the plunge had happened. "I know—no, I meant ... that—what I'm trying to say is ...." He took a deep breath loudly and put some resolve in his voice. "It's that _friend_ part. I always wanted—I mean, not _always_ , I guess, but ... lately, I—I wanted to be more than that." He let his face flop forward onto his arms, burying his face and muffling his voice. "But you never let me."

Wonshik remained stunned, his ears burning with the redness beginning to crawl up his skin. Comprehension was _very_ slowly beginning to trace its way into his mind, and he started to question if he was dreaming or hearing things wrong. He quit his pacing and stared at Hongbin's form in the other corner, looking not unlike a small child reeling from punishment. As the words hit their mark, his voice went deadly calm and very steady. " _More_ than that? Never _let_ you? Where did this even come from?"

"Forget it," Hongbin's upset voice came from between his folded arms. " _Please_ forget it."

"No," Wonshik riposted with icy stillness. "I'm confused and just a _little_ bit insulted. When did you ever tell me that you felt that way? When did you even give me a chance to respond without assuming all this?"

Hongbin's head lifted and he couldn't help the shame and distrust that crossed his features, like he'd just been accused of stealing money from a kid's piggy bank. "It's not that I didn't do—" He suddenly stopped, his expression switching from disgraced to bewildered. "W-Wait, what do you mean 'respond'?" His voice went cautious, as if talking to a riled animal. "What would you have responded with?"

A vibrating noise came from Wonshik's pocket, where he'd returned his phone after standing, and he pulled the mobile out to glance at it. Ignoring whatever alert he'd gotten, he steadily met Hongbin's eyes and let out a breath he didn't even really realise he'd been holding. Pocketing the phone again, he slowly and tentatively made his way to the corner that his bandmate was curled up in, settling down on one knee a couple of feet away. They were treating each other with so much caution, as if one wrong move would bring the ceiling crumbling to the floor. He leaned his arms on his raised knee and gently replied, "That I always tease you for being so handsome because I think you're beautiful."

"Wh-What?" All Hongbin could manage was a stutter.

"All of you, not just your stupid pretty flower boy face."

"Wha—"

"That _that's_ why I've been getting on your case lately," Wonshik continued, ignoring the blush in his face. In both of their faces. He fidgeted with the collar of his shirt and then toyed idly with the hem of the leg of his jeans, suddenly unable to look his groupmate in the eye. "That I've been ... that I've been wanting you to put your best self forward ... for our fans." He looked up, fighting the timidness surfacing; luckily, he was good at that. "I want them to see what I see all the time, on- or off-camera."

Hongbin's completely floored expression could not be erased by mere willpower. He swallowed back the jitters in his system, keeping a steady eye on Wonshik, still crouched just a couple of feet away. He had to resist the urge to pinch himself to see if this was really happening, and instead unfolded his arms and hugged his knees in toward himself, scarcely aware that he looked (and probably sounded) about ten years younger than he actually was. "You actually ... feel that way for me?"

"Pretty much always fucking have," Wonshik confirmed with a matter-of-fact nod. He disentangled his legs out from under him and planted himself directly next to his bandmate, back up against the wall, but not quite ready to reach out to him. His voice took on a more comforting tone, but who out of the two of them it was intended for was unknown. Probably both. "Maybe if you'd given me a _chance_ instead of presuming to know how I felt, you wouldn't have been such an ass all the time." He attempted a soothing half-smile.

Completely embarrassed, Hongbin stared at the floor directly in front of them, all too aware that he could feel the heat radiating from Wonshik's body next to him. "But," he started, shaking his head in mild disbelief, "you're always such a ... a _flirt_. The fans love you for it, and you treat everyone like that. I never even got a hint of it from you though."

Wonshik managed a barked laugh. "Oh, please! First of all," he began, tipping his head forward to try to meet Hongbin's eyes. "that's a big part of my stage personality, and you know it. I like to flirt, sure, but I load it up tenfold for them. Second of all, you tell me: when has it ever been easy to flirt with the person you want?"

Hongbin gave a light shake of his head in response.

"Exactly. For them it's a show, but I never needed to do that with you." Wonshik nudged his left shoulder against the other in an attempt to pull him from his shell. "I never needed to put on a front with you. You know me for me, and that's all."

"Oh."

Silence once again enveloped over the two, but it was leaps and bounds from what had been plaguing them earlier. Relief was involved in this time, although both of their nerves still felt like they were on fire. As before held the sudden fear of confession, though, a different kind of feverishness began to develop as they were both acutely receptive to their close proximity.

A _bbzzzttt_ vibration sound pulled both of them away from their thoughts, and Wonshik immediately made a sour face. "Come _on_ ," he muttered with annoyance, stretching his legs out in front of him so he could pull the phone back out of his pocket again. He glimpsed at the message on the screen then once again ignored it, putting it away. All Hongbin could observe in the quick moment was that it was Hakyeon texting him, but that was it.

"What's N hyun—"

"It's not important," Wonshik interrupted, turning his body and pulling his back away from the wall to completely face Hongbin. He reached out and confidently pried his groupmate's hands off from hugging his knees to his chest, and unfolded the other's body as if he were a stiff mannequin. With his legs now extended straight out instead of blocking his torso, Wonshik turned himself so he could place one hand on the other side of Hongbin's legs, leaning his body over him casually and staring straight into his now-wide eyes. "What _is_ important is what's been established today. And that is ... ?" he trailed off, attempting to prompt an answer like a teacher would to a student. A playful smile sat on his lips.

"That maybe I should have said something," Hongbin mumbled, clearly a bit flustered by thinking about his recent actions. He didn't have much of a choice but to retain Wonshik's eye contact. "That maybe if I had, I'd have been able to do something about this internal—this—this frustration that's been driving me crazy."

"Exactly!" Wonshik exclaimed, his good-natured smile morphing into a big, impish grin. In a shift of what he was feeling earlier, he seemed to be oozing confidence. "And if you'd wanted to do something about this _frustration_ , you say, you should have just done something like this."

Still leaning against his right hand across the other's body, he brought his left hand up to rest on the crook of Hongbin's neck and shoulder as he leaned in for an electrifying kiss. Feeling sparks on the tips of his nerves, Hongbin's hands instinctively grasped awkwardly at handfuls of Wonshik's t-shirt, and he returned the kiss with vigor. He pulled away from the wall and leaned his weight into the other, careful not to knock him backwards, countering the push by tugging forcefully on the shirt. Wonshik responded in turn, pushing back with some aggression, tongue entering the equation that lips had began.

Suddenly needing to catch their breaths, the two separated by mere inches with hesitation and found themselves staring short-winded into each other's covetous eyes. "Woah," Hongbin breathed, his very familiar dimpled smile splitting across his face, no longer able to hold back the excitement in him. "I really should have done that before."

Wonshik waggled his eyebrows up once and nodded in agreement. "It would have been really hot," he jokingly chided, "although you have to admit I'm way smoother at that than you are. Did you see how I swooped? That was a good swoop."

Hongbin laughed aloud, releasing some of the tension in his body.

"Ahh, _there's_ what I needed," Wonshik mused, affectionately brushing the hair off of Hongbin's forehead. He then pulled himself completely away, attempting to hide how hard his hands were shaking. "There's the smile and laugh that the fangirls love, I was beginning to think I wouldn't see it again." He climbed up shakily from the floor, gaining a kind of steadiness on two feet, and offered his hand out to Hongbin.

Upon taking Wonshik's hand and pulling himself up off the floor, he readjusted the towel that had been resting on his shoulders and glanced inquisitively over at the door. "Wait, how are we supposed to leave? Do we just tell them the secret code of truce and they let us out?"

Wonshik nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, the door's been open for a while now."

Hongbin blinked in surprise, caught off-guard. "Wait. What?"

"Yeah, that's what those texts were," Wonshik continued coolly, trying to hide his grin as he noticed the realisation spreading across Hongbin's face. "Hakyeon hyung couldn't contain his guilt anymore when he heard us shouting, and he told us to come out and talk about it as a group. I guess he didn't want to interrupt though because he never came in."

After a moment of staring, Hongbin blurted, "Wait what—how—why didn't you tell me sooner?!"

At the stammering, Wonshik completely burst out laughing. "Why?!" he exclaimed, letting out a grunt in surprise when Hongbin landed a punch to his shoulder. "You think I was going to disturb that amazing conversation we just had?! No way, holy fuck, I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world."

"I mean—" Hongbin sputtered again, conflicting expressions crossing his face. "I mean, I guess so, but you could have said something. I wasn't about to leave."

"I know. Besides," Wonshik added, effortlessly slinking his arm across Hongbin's shoulders so he could lean in closer to him as they stood there, "there was a part of me that _really_ wanted to see the look on one of their faces if they'd walked in at _just_ the right moment."

Side-eyeing him in an attempt to hide the bit of blush gliding up his neck, Hongbin snorted with amusement. "I mean, we really just kissed, I don't think—"

In one swift aggressive movement, Wonshik tightened his grip across Hongbin's shoulders and half-push, half-stumbled, him toward the wall. With a _thud_ , his partner hit it and gasped in surprise. Wonshik planted his hands firmly on either side of the other's torso and leaned in close, a devillish smirk on his face and a mischievous glint in his dark eyes. " _Just_ kissed? Because, I mean, if that wasn't enough for you, we could—"

"Hey, I didn't say—"

"How much more do you want to fit in before the others catch on?" Wonshik murmured.

He'd just managed to press his lower body forward and lean in for the kill when they suddenly heard their leader proclaim, "Look, I know I _said_ 'make out', but I wasn't expecting it to actually convince you guys! Come on! I'd say 'Get a room,' but I guess you kind of did."

A strained noise of surprise escaped Hongbin's lips, and he flushed a deep scarlet. "N hyung, there's—"

"Your timing _sucks_ ," Wonshik groaned, pulling away calmly from the other. He straightened out his shirt and readjusted his beanie once again while turning toward the doorway, where Hakyeon stood with a completely unruffled look on his face. "I thought you might have gotten the hint when I didn't reply."

"No, I actually assumed one of you knocked the other out, and your silence was either your admission of guilt or that you were passed out." Hakyeon shrugged mildly. "I'm guessing this means you guys are cool now and we _totally_ helped! Taekwoonie owes us money."

Hongbin spoke up, mumbling, "Shitty plan but good results."

"Yeah, kind of a dick move," Wonshik agreed, "but, as usual, you were right." He started to make his way out of the room. "I normally really hate it when you're right, but I'll make an exception this time."

"You'll make an exception every time if you know what's good for you," Hakyeon retorted as he exited the room, tossing over his shoulder, "and we're about to have dinner, so hold off on your manly urges until later, okay? Unless you want Hyukie catching more than just your innuendo-filled conversation on camera."

Wonshik followed suit, turning his head back and slyly winking at Hongbin. "Okay, until later then."

Feeling completely overwhelmed with emotion, embarrassment, and near-staggering sexual frustration, Hongbin was finally able to slink away from the wall and move his unstable legs in the direction of the doorway.

" _Seriously_ though," he whined to no one in particular on his way out, running a sweaty palm through his messy hair, " _why_ didn't you tell me sooner?!"


End file.
